Sunday, July 31, 2011

Brenna had an enjoyable week of princess camp last week. With the three days of camp, Brenna was able to dress up as Rapunzel, Tiana, and the Little Mermaid. On Thursday, the last day of their camp, the girls had a final performance for the parents and the older girls dressed up as princesses as well. Brenna during the dance...(above and below) - I loved that after the girls finished their dance Brenna advised me that I needed to clap :-)

Picture with the guest princess of the day (this is also Brenna's acro teacher Miss Tori)

The girls that helped at the camp all week (I think Brenna was looking at herself in the mirrors)

Yesterday evening, Brenna and I went to the first Princesses and Pirates night at the zoo. It was so warm, I made Brenna a new leotard with a princess crown in crystals on it and she wore an old skirt from one of her costumes and the crown they made at princess camp. The costume was great for enjoying the bouncy houses at the zoo.

she was all about posing...

I think her new summer hip hop classes has given her some new poses...

Brenna with the character at the zoo when we first got to the zoo

below saying good-bye to the frog on our way out the door

striking another pose (and Justice sneaking into the background)

I love the penguin below with the princess wand...

Brenna loved that some of the area princesses were at the event. First up, Brenna with Miss Akron International

with Miss Cuyahoga county (sorry she blinked and I only took one picture)

with Miss Teen Cuyahoga county

Hello All!!

So, I just had to share these pictures while Brenna and I are having some evening down time. Yesterday evening, Brenna and I went to the first Princesses and Pirates night at the zoo. Brenna had a great time and really loved the bouncy houses they had and the princesses that were in attendance. (and I have apparently overloaded her with the face painting - they had face painting at the zoo, but Brenna wasn't even interested (especially when she found out there was a line)).

Today, Brenna and I enjoyed some additional girl time with a movie (we went to the Smurfs - which we both enjoyed) and the outlet mall (to ride the train) and also finished the grocery shopping :-)

Brenna is also really enjoying playing with her Barbies right now (especially on skype if anyone is ever interested :-)

above, the gift table from the girls' birthday party last weekend (I painted the pony for Mikayla). Below, the name banners I made for the girls. I like the way that Mikayla's turned out the best - I think I will change Brenna's to be the same way...

Brenna and Mikayla got into costumes before opening their gifts...

Brenna modeling her new PJ's that Gammy made her :-)

above - the kids had fun with my point and shoot camera and my camera at Dustin's triathlon last weekend. Below - group picture taken by D.J.

kids having fun running up the hill at Dustin's triathlon...

Dustin competing in a Triathlon last weekend (my mom said I needed to correct my last blog - the sweet corn festival wasn't last weekend, but the weekend before that - last weekend we went to their house where Dustin did the tri and then we celebrated my daughter and niece's birthdays together.) Below - getting to the finish line...

Dustin was lucky to have quite the cheering section this time - Brenna and I went for the first time along with my mom and one our good friends for college and his great family. Brenna had a great time running up the hill with the boys.

pictures from the birthday party - I thought my sister did a great job with these little cake banners - aren't they cute!!

my contribution to the party - chocolate princess crown picks (happy to say that none of the chocolate picks were left at the end of the party ;-)

I loved Mikayla's face when we sang to them - Brenna looked so serious...

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - trying to keep busy while Dustin is away...

Above are our pictures from last weekend - Dustin had a triathlon, we celebrated the girls' birthdays, and we spent the morning on Sunday at the Ft. Wayne zoo with friends.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Brenna above with her new Smurfette and matching hat. I'm sure we will be checking out the movie when it comes out this weekend (especially with Dustin away in Germany...). Below, Brenna at the Sweet Corn Festival.

Brenna and Dustin riding the ferris wheel at the sweet corn festival. The operator of the ride let them stay on forever...

Pictures from the open house at the county jail. Brenna loved petting each horse and finding out their names.

Brenna loves characters in costume :-)

the new vehicle that looks more fitting to the batman movie to me.

Brenna loved the Safety Pup too (even though her classmate from school was a little afraid of him).

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! We have been keeping busy here this summer - and of course I am getting behind on my blogging. I know I already talked about the jail open house, so the pictures are above. We also recently enjoyed the Sweet Corn Festival locally. Brenna was the most excited to go and eat Sweet Corn and see the fireworks. She was even determined enough to see the fireworks to use the bathrooms there (porta potties). We all had a nice evening with Brenna and Dustin riding on the ferris wheel, Dustin winning Brenna a plastic air filled flamingo, and then watching the fireworks. (and even though Brenna dropped her sweet corn after eating only one row, she didn't even get upset :-)

Last weekend, we went to see the Winnie the Pooh movie and afterwards, Brenna made the Smurfette at Build-a-bear. Brenna and I are looking forward to seeing the movie in the next few days :-)

This week, Brenna had Princess dance camp 3 days - she had a great time with it :-) She was able to dress up as Rapunzel (from Tangled), Tiana (from the Princess and the Frog), and Ariel (from the Little Mermaid). We also picked up her pottery that she painted last week (on the 14th she made a footprint in clay and then they transformed it into a flip flop - very cute - we painted it last week). Saturday night we are going to the Princess and Pirate night at the zoo - hope she isn't too princessed out (but I think she will be o.k. since they will have face painting and I think a bouncy house too).

Sunday, July 17, 2011

so, Brenna and I picked out these Wilton Candy picks at JoAnn's. I didn't buy the chocolate in the same shopping trip, so she had to wait about a week before we tried them for the first time. Brenna loved helping make them (and this was my first time making them, so we did accidently overfill most of the molds). They turned out pretty cute and were delicious :-)

another of my paintings :-) He is another Diddlina character. (It may look like a bunny, but it is a dog)...

I bought a remote for my camera - Brenna was in love with it :-)

Brenna getting us all in the picture

I tried to get some new pics of Brenna at the park - she was o.k. with the idea of pictures before we got to the park, but not much interested once we got there.

most of the looks she gave me....I think they even included an eye roll....

finally some real smiles once we went to the playground...

Brenna showing her puppy dog face...

Brenna and I met a new friend named Koda - he is only 8 months old and he had some huge paws...

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - just trying to beat the heat. I have been getting Justice out most mornings for a walk (he is so used to it that if I try to sit at the computer before his walk - he sits and whines at me - spoiled dog!).

Brenna and I did some fun activities during the past week - we went to the park, we went and had her foot impression done in clay (and then made it into a flip flop) at the local pottery place (you will have to wait a few weeks to see the finished product), and we went to a kids concert in the park. On Friday evening, we went to the local sweet corn festival and Brenna and Dustin rode on the Ferris Wheel together and then she rode a few other kiddie rides there. Brenna was the only one of us that wanted the sweet corn so late in the evening and unfortunetly it was slippery and fell on the ground after only eating about a row of it, but she handled it like a trooper. We also stayed late and watched the fireworks, so Brenna braved the port-a-potties at the event (they were pretty nasty too - we both had to hold our breath in there!). Daddy won her a great new plastic blow-up flamingo - she loved having it for the wait for the fireworks. On Saturday morning, we went to the open house at the county jail. Brenna really had a good time and we were lucky that one of her preschool classmates happened to be there for the jail tour (Brenna said that was the best part of the morning). It was a neat event for the kids as they had the mounted police there, the smoke house for the kids, and a bounce house (Brenna's second favorite thing about the open house). We also ran into one of Brenna's classmates from the daycare she went to up until age 2. The girls didn't remember each other, but they had fun playing in the bounce house together. The food at the open house was free, so we had a great lunch of hamburgers, homemade donuts, cookies, and slushies. The people who organized the event really did a great job. (and they had some interesting things for the adults too - they had out the Hazmat vehicle and equipment, their new armored vehicle - which looked like it belonged on the set of a Batman movie, and some of their old vehicles). Brenna also really enjoyed seeing Smokey the Bear and Patches the safety pup.

In the afternoon, we went to the new Winnie the Pooh movie and then walked around the mall since it was so hot outside. Daddy treated Brenna to a new friend from Build-a-Bear (she picked Smurfette).

Well, that was the highlights I think! (and I will have to share pictures from Saturday later - I haven't put them on the computer yet).